Shep Ferguson Ch. 12 Scotti Lynn, Janice and Jessamyn

Scotti Lynn's part of the update is quite short this time. I didn't realize how few photos I had before I sent her off to University. The part on the twins is a little longer, but not by intention--Author's Note.

A moment now to try to unravel the relationships, both by blood and marriage in this part of the Ferguson family.

Shep Ferguson (Harvey's dad, remember?) is on the left and his kid brother, Scott Ferguson is next to him. On the far right is Scott's wife, Heather Simmons Ferguson.

Below are Heather's two daughters; Jenna, on the left. No one knows who Jenna's father is, she was born before Heather came to Pleasantview and before she met Scott--and Heather's not telling. Jenna's husband, Jesse Blackford is in the center and Jenna's half-sister Scotti Lynn is on the right.

These are Jenna and Jesse's twin daughters; Janice is on the left and Jessamyn is on the right. Therefore, since Scotti Lynn is Jenna's half sister, that makes her an aunt to the twins who are actually the same age.

To add to the confusion, Jesse's older brother, Jeremy Blackford (on the left, below) is married to Shep Ferguson's oldest daughter, Gillian (on the right).

This makes Jesse (and therefore the twins) loosely related by marriage on both sides to Shep and Scott. He's Scott's step-son-in-law and Gillian Ferguson's brother-in-law. The relationships in the small village of Pleasantview have been getting rather complicated. Or as we like to say down south, "I'm my own grandpaw". I put this all on a Family Echo page and was going to include the link, but it's so wide you have to scroll across for a mile across the screen to see everything.

Anyway, on to Scotti Lynn's short update...

Scotti Lynn

To Scott and Heather the weeks seemed suddenly to fly by now that their daughter Scotti Lynn was going to go off to the University. She was Scott's only child but at least she would have family around while she lived on campus: Heather's two grandchildren, the twins Janice and Jessamyn would be there, too.  All three girls were good friends as well as relatives. In fact, Scotti Lynn was the twins' aunt, but she certainly didn't feel like their aunt when they hung out together; much more like cousins.

With only only a few weeks left to go Scotti Lynn made her father promise on his honor not to forget to feed the fish in the aquarium. He didn't remind her that he'd been the one doing that until she was around eight, when she'd assumed the responsibility.

 

Meanwhile, Scotti Lynn seemed to have more admirers than ever; among them Shane Severino and redheaded Fletcher Silverman. Of course, Fletcher was only a sophomore so she couldn't possibly take him seriously but he was a nice boy and her parents liked him quite well. Scotti Lynn often went with him to play pool at the Galaxy Arcade. 

In fact, Fletcher was staying to supper the night Scotti Lynn took the taxi to Sim State U. It was a poignant moment when she walked out the front door and her parents knew they would be floundering about in what now suddenly seemed a huge house. With Scotti Lynn gone they would have to rethink their habits and priorities. From the moment she was born, she had brought laughter and light into the home. Her parents were happy she was going on to further her education and find new horizons but they would miss her fiercely.

Janice and Jessamyn

Janice and Jessamyn Blackford were excited that they soon would be leaving for University along with their "Aunt" Scotti Lynn and their friends Debbie Ferguson and Lisa Trottier Goth. Since becoming teenagers the twins now had their own separate bedrooms in the big red brick house they called home.

Janice

Jessamyn

Music, especially dancing, and games of all kind were the focus for Janice who hoped to become a ballerina one day...or, at the very least, one of the "gypsies" on the Broadway stage. Her parents applauded her goals and paid for private dance lessons, but insisted she be practical and get a traditional education to be prepared for life.

Jessamyn was into gardening and painting. She took art lessons; she had always loved to paint and draw since her toddler days. But detailed plans for the future left her cold. She wanted to be open to whatever experiences came her way and, aside from being diligent about her studies, she was more of a "free soul". Or so she considered herself.

The twins were nearly identical, but their family and friends could easily tell them apart. Janice had blue eyes, wavy hair and a fuller face. Her look was a little more glamorous—probably the show biz factor. Jessamyn had green eyes and straight bright copper hair that she wore in a ponytail, her style in clothes, hair and makeup was always more relaxed and a little offbeat.

Mostly the girls hung out together and tried not to get interested in the same boy at the same time. Pleasantview was more a village than a town so it was not easy to do that: there were only about 20 kids in the graduation class.

Janice had taken a part-time job for a while as the cashier at Le Magnifique International Restaurant. Her boss, Lonnie Hammond, had maintained a baked goods section for a while where customers could purchase any of the restaurant's trademark desserts to serve at home, but he had to lay her off when he did away with that idea. She was definitely not interested in waitressing.

It was just as well; this senior year Janice had a lot of assignments and had dance lessons twice a week now instead of just on Thursdays. Jessamyn had not been interested in getting a job; she made a little pin money selling her fresh vegetables and fruit and needed time to work in her greenhouse each day.

What spare time they had they spent hanging out with friends at the Galaxy Arcade, the roller rink, or Sam's Snappy Service, the old-timey drive-in restaurant located halfway between Pleasantview and Bluewater Village.

The girls and their "Aunt" Scotti Lynn at Galaxy Arcade

Brooks Generica, Damon Ottomas and the twins:

Rapid Racers Roller Rink:

When graduation was past and the summer ended Janice and Jessamyn called for taxis from their computer and said goodbye to Jenna and Jesse. Their future was calling.

After they left Jenna made dinner for Jesse and herself and the quiet was deafening. Her husband turned to her and asked,

"Well. So now what do we do?" 

Static Page showing Shep Ferguson family tree HERE

New update on Harvey and Lori Ferguson HERE

Shep Ferguson Ch. 8 Debbie; High School Senior Pt. 2

One evening John Lassiter strolled by the Ferguson home while Shep was fishing in the pond so he called to John and invited him in for a game of "DWTL" and a double-pork chop dinner. John's youngest daughter, Lori, was married to their youngest son, Harvey, so not only were they long time friends and neighbors they were also relatives. They asked him how his wife, Melora, was doing and were surprised to find out that she was working part-time at the Flowers By Chelsea shop in town. She'd taken classes on flower arranging and enjoyed it very much. With all their children out of the house, Melora was bored so she was eager to work for a while again. So John had time on his hands; hence the "walkabout" in Pleasantview that day.

Madeleine was a very good cook; almost as good as Melora Lassiter, and she'd been thinking for some time of entering into the competition at Sue's Secret Kitchen. Melora had encouraged her to give it a try so Madeleine began making a number of her best recipes to see which one she would use to compete.  Crown roast of pork was one of the first ones she made to Shep's great delight; because that was his favorite meal. In fact, she had given the recipe to Lori just before Christmas. Madeleine also grilled often so on various days she prepared Stuffed Golden Trout, Stuffed Rainbow Trout and her special Barbequed Ribs. The ribs recipe had been handed down in her family for three generations--Gillian used it all the time.

She couldn't decide on one recipe so far, but she had narrowed it down to either her barbequed ribs or the crown roast.

"Well, you know which one I'd choose," Shep smiled, "But I'm no expert on cooking competitions."

Madeleine was also considering entering a cake or pie in the dessert competition eventually, after she got the nerve to enter one of her savory dishes. Debbie, too, was more and more interested in learning to cook. She could make grilled cheese sandwiches and macaroni and cheese, but she wanted to learn to make chili and spaghetti and especially double chops the way her mother did.

Madeleine continued to think about it but, for the time being, she didn't feel she was ready to compete at Sue's Secret Kitchen.

Last fall Shep spent a good deal of time raking leaves; a more strenuous job than some might think. Madeleine kept telling him to "take it easy and don't try to do so much in a day, you're not as young as you used to be." This only made him grumpy, of course. Shep was hardly ever in an ill mood, so she tried not to remind him too often. Still, she had read that many seniors had heart attacks while either shoveling snow or raking leaves, so she kept an eye on him when she could.

After some discussion regarding the cramped conditions in the art studio--which had been on the 2nd floor in Nicky's old room for a couple years now--Shep decided Madeleine should have a sewing room of her own on the third floor. It would be in the room that the kids used to use to work out in when they were little and now it just held a second exercise machine. Mostly they used the machine on the 2nd floor in the hall, anyway. So they stored the second exercise machine for the time being in the attic and--with help from Debbie--moved Madeleine's antique sewing machine and table up to the 3rd floor room at the top of the stairs. Madeleine loved the room--there was space for everything she needed. She not only liked sewing clothes from patterns, but designing and making her own patterns and now there was room for both pursuits. Many happy hours would be spent in this room in the future.

On Friday nights Debbie usually spent time with her female friends. Often they'd go cruising or to the movies, or sometimes they went skating or to the Arcade and frequently the next afternoon was spent with them as well. Of course, boys could be counted on to show up during these occasions, but not always. Somehow on this Friday night she'd ended up with no plans. Saturday nights she usually had a date but surprisingly no one had asked her out, either. Feeling glum about the weekend in general and desperate for some socializing she went on up to the Arcade again Friday around 7 pm. When no one was there that was her age she called Jessamyn Blackford to come up to meet her. Jessamyn did so, but no sooner did she come in the door and look around then she muttered she had to go and did just that. Debbie was irritated and headed to Wonderland Skate Rink but there were hardly any teens there either. In fact, there was practically no one there at all. What a dreary Friday night. Debbie went on back home and brooded in her bedroom, writing down her frustration in her diary. An idea occurred to her and she phoned Jessamyn again.

"What was the idea tonight? You came in and then ducked out immediately," before Jessamyn could answer she went on, "Listen, Jess, if you'll pick me up tonight--late tonight--I'll come out and we can go cruising and I'll actually forgive you for being so mean to me at the Arcade. Do not honk the horn."

"I wasn't trying to be mean--it was just that I don't like the manager there, he's too friendly, always trying to joke with me and he creeps me out. I mean, he must be 30! And when I came in he was looking at me weird and I could see he was going to come over to me. I couldn't explain to you then." 

"Well, okay, like I said I'll forgive you if you come by here around 1 in the morning when my parents are asleep. I need a little adventure and sneaking out late at night would be way more fun than than an afternoon at the Arcade anyway."

So when Jessamyn arrived Debbie was lurking on the porch in the dark and she sprinted out to the car. Hours later she crept up the walk as quietly as she could and managed to avoid detection. This time.

Jessamyn often came over on Saturday mornings and had breakfast with Debbie while they discussed what their plans should be for the day. Sometimes they went shopping or over to see another of their friends, like Lisa Trottier Goth, or Scotti Lynn Ferguson. Jessamyn's twin sister, Janice, sometimes came along, too, but her part-time job at Le Magnifique usually kept her busy on Saturday afternoons so she mostly went with them at night.

Other times Debbie and Jessamyn just hung around the house, swimming and fishing, or playing games, and sometimes just being plain silly; pillow-fighting or giggling over boys.

More and more, as her senior year went on, Debbie daydreamed about the day she would leave for college. She could see herself getting in the taxi while Madeline waved goodbye sadly. Would her parents miss her much? She knew she would be very homesick at first, and it really wouldn't be too much longer before it was time to go away to school. She hoped to go to Sim State University, the same college Harvey and Holly had graduated from a few years ago. Shep and Madeleine were debating though, if they let her go there they wanted to be sure she did not stay at the dorm where those murders had once occurred. It sounded fascinating to Debbie--at least from this distance--but surely there could not still be strange things going on at Landgraab Dorm? Perhaps she would try Pinenut dorm instead. She had to make up her mind soon...

Link to 1st Murder at Landgraab HERE


Link to 2nd Murder HERE

Next blog update: Shep Ferguson Ch. 9 Gillian Ferguson-Blackford